Kolkata: Union minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday went on a door-to-door campaign in Bhabanipur assembly constituency in support of BJP’s candidate Priyanka Tibrewal and said he saw clear support for the saffron party in the area.
Puri, the Narendra Modi cabinet’s Sikh face, also prayed at a local Gurudwara.
“In my conversations with residents of Ram Mohan Dutta Road in the Ray Street area of Bhabanipur, shared their issues & concerns,” Puri said on Twitter.
“But there is clear support for the BJP candidate Smt. Priyanka Tibrewal,” he said. Tibrewal, who accompanied Puri, is challenging Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her home constituency Bhabanipur, a seat which the TMC had won in elections held to the state assembly earlier this year. The seat was vacated by winning MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay to make way for his party leader. Banerjee had lost elections in Nandigram by a narrow margin to her former aide Suvendu Adhikari who is now BJP’s leader in the West Bengal assembly. The Nandigram election is however subject to an ongoing court challenge. Puri, a former Indian Ambassador to the United Nations, also visited Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s and Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee houses, both located in the Bhabanipur area, to pay homage to the two leaders. “Visited the ancestral home of staunch nationalist & firm believer in India’s unity & development, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Ji & joined @BJP4Bengal karyakartas in paying homage to the memory of one of the founders of Bhartiya Jan Sangh. His vision & ideals continue to inspire us,” he tweeted.
Puri later said there is disillusionment among people about the ruling Trinamool Congress in the constituency and predicted this will be reflected in the results, if people vote freely .